In My Time Of Dying
by Castiel's Angel 1996
Summary: Falling to her seemingly unavoidable death, Calleigh Daquesne has a moment of clarity about her relationship with Eric Delko...


A cooling breeze blows through humid Florida, making the leaves of the palm trees sway. Sand blows from the beach, travelling up to the beach houses lining the coast. Pink rays of sunlight dance through the sky as the sun begins to rise; the view of horror becoming visible.

A tall beach house mansion stands out from the rest. Though this house is beautiful, giving the impression of being old and magical, it was not that which draws the eye. The usually pearl white of the path leading up to the wooden door is bathed in red blood. Halfway down the pathway is a pool of it, a clear spot in the middle as if it had pooled around an object which is no longer there.

Calleigh Duquesne follows her partner, Eric Delko, as he makes his way towards the puddle of blood. Giving her a nod, he bend to collect the evidence, silently telling her to go on without him. Gripping her lab kit tighter, Calleigh make walks through the open door of the house.

Casting a look around, she notices no sign of blood on the tiled floor but could see some on the cream stairs. Her small heels clicking against the floor, Calleigh follows the blood trail leading towards the upper floor of the mansion.

Without the horror filling it, the mansion could easily have passed as the most beautiful place she had step foot it. She loves the style of it, seemingly old on the outside and yet modern on the inside.

She passes a leather couch as she makes her way down the upper hallway, the brown mixing nicely with the cream.

Family pictures line the wall and she stops to look at them. Mr Nastalya, a wealthy businessman, stands proudly with his wife, two daughters and his son. The children share the wide toothed grin with their father, while their mothers lips were closed and yet still in a happy smile. The whole family shared dark hair, a very dark brown, which makes Calleigh not help but feel glad at her own blonde hair; not liking to fit in.

That is something Calleigh was proud of: not exactly fitting in with what people expect. Her long blonde hair often led people to believe her to be another 'dumb blonde' and, while she has got a bubbly and light personality, she is by far one of the smartest people working for the Miami crime lab.

Leaving the pictures of the smiling family behind, Calleigh follows the blood trail into one of the little girls room. She let out a heavy sigh at the sight, her heart clenching. The little girl lay on the bed, blue eyes staring up at the ceiling without seeing anything. Her brown hair lay around her, the ends coated in thick, red blood from where her throat has been split.

The girl could be no older than eight, yet she had died in such a gruesome and horrible way. One of her hands rest on her chest, the other hang out of the bed with both covered in blood. She had held her hands to her throat, her natural instinct kicking in and telling her to stop the bleeding. Ava Nastalya had bleed to death, alone and scared in her small bedroom.

Calleigh's mind wanders to the other members of the girls family. The child's mom and dad had both fallen victim to the same fate. Her fifteen year old brother, Cameron, and five year old sister, Anya, are both missing. Calleigh can't wrap her mind around it though, why kidnap the oldest and youngest and kill the middle child? In fact, if he wanted the children, why kill her at all?

"The poor baby" a soft voice says with sigh, sadness filling their tone.

Calleigh turns around, sending her co-worker a sad smile. She steps back, allowing the medical examiner, Alexx Woods, to access the child's body. She watches as Alex crouches down beside the bed, pulling on the standard gloves. She examines the little girl, vocally complaining over what the she had gone through before the end of her time.

Using the back of her hand, Alexx brushes dark hair from the Ava's forehead before turning to Calleigh. "Its didn't take long..."

"Good" Calleigh nods, finding comfort in the knowledge that Ava didn't have to suffer for long.

"One, clean-" Alexx stops, eyebrows pulling down. Her voice lowers, her eyes flickering around the room. "You hear that?"

Calleigh nods, admitting to hearing the sound of heavy footsteps and something falling to the floor. "Eric's d-"

"Talking to the responding officer!" Alexx hisses.

Telling Alexx to remain where she is, Calleigh stands up straight; drawing her gun. Slowly, she walks towards the bedroom door. She peaks around, looking for any sign of movement before stepping into the hallway. She quietly makes her way back towards the stairs, past them, and continuing to the other side of the hall.

Calleigh lets out a squeal of surprise as something jumps out from the closest door. The person bumps into her, having the door being leave than three feet away, and pushes her backwards. She screams as the banisters strikes the very top of her bottom and she topples over.

Her eyes wide, she begins to fall as if in slow motion. Her hair rushes around her face, creating blonde cuts in her view. Though as she falls, a face appears above her, one that she recognises. Its the boy from the photographs and he looks scared.

Her hands grasp at empty air, her legs working as if she were riding an invisible bike. She follows the path of her gun, towards the floor of the mansion. The weightless feeling was like nothing she had ever felt before. Its like that moment where your half asleep but then suddenly, you jump up because you had that falling sensation.

Calleigh knows the fall could potentially kill her, that Cameron could be charged with manslaughter over her death. The kid would have to live with that on his mind. But that doesn't register with her though. No, she doesn't think about the kid. Instead she thinks of someone else, someone she didn't think she would think of in this situation.

Everyone believes that you would think of your parents, children or significant other at the point of death. They're probably right, most people do. But Calleigh's thoughts drift else where, going instead towards her best friend.

She imagines them finding her, on the tiled floor with a puddle of blood around her head. She imagines their brown eyes looking into her clear green ones, green eyes that don't look back. She imagines them them crying her name, hands on her face as they beg her to come back, to breathe.

Calleigh knows that Eric Delko would do all those things. She knows he would cry, that he would beg her to come back to him. She could even seen the look of horror on his face as he found her, still and empty of any life. She could almost feel the warmth and weight of his hands on her face, feel his hands pushing the stray pieces of her blonde hair out of her clear eyes.

Eric would be heartbroken, of course he would be. He would miss her, mourn her. Eric would be the one to give a speech at her ceremony, saying how smart and kind she was. He would be the one who broke down at her funeral as her coffin was put in the ground. He would be the one to visit her on every weekend, brining her flowers which she would never see.

The thoughts, which only last for less than a second, make her heart clench. She would miss him too. She would miss his smile, something that could make her whole day. She would miss his voice which was always soft and mostly cheerful. She would miss him teasing her about the little things in life. She would miss _him_.

She would never get to see if their friendship would last, if it... grew to something more. It could have, she thinks, have lead to something more in their relationship. Added to the teasing, there was always a little flirting going on. She had always been attracted to him, always been drawn to the other CSI.

She couldn't die like this though, could die not knowing, could die and put Eric through all that pain. Somehow, though the shock of falling, she manages to gain control of her arms. She moves them behind her, as if she were going to rest her arms behind her head.

And as she hit the ground with a mighty _thund_, her head slightly bounced on her arms; even as she heard a sharp _crack_. Her head head still manages to hit the ground, though with less force than it would have; yet it still really hurt. Her neck hurts, as if she had badly twisted it the wrong why. Her hips hurt a lot, and her back too but the worst had to be her arm, which burned like fire.

The pain in her head makes everything seem fuzzy. Her ears rang, a sharp and continuous bell sounding through them. She blinks her eyes, though everything still continues to spin in at an alarming speed. Her eyelid felt heavy and yet she fought against the sleep.

"Calleigh!" there he is. Though fear laced Eric's voice, comfort fills Calleigh as the knowledge of him being close assures her.

Suddenly, she can see his face. His lips are moving but no sound seems to coming out. His eyebrows are pulled down, though his eyes are wide as he looks at her. He does what she thought he would, he cradles her head in his hands. The warmth seeps though his skin and sinks deep into her bones.

She blinks rapidly as darkness fills the edges of her vision. Tiredness overtakes her and she knows she won't be able to fight it for long. She's going to fall asleep, that was for certain, but she doesn't know if she is ever going to wake up. She feels like she could sleep forever.

"Hold on, Cal" Eric's words manage to reaches her ears. Those three simple words give her the will to lift the arm that doesn't hurt and she rests her hand on his cheek. He covers her hands his own and its got blood on. "You're going to be okay."

"Eric... I love you" she meant to say the words at one and in a strong, clear voice. Yet, the words came out quiet and broken, gaps between the words.

And through the tears in his eyes, Eric manages to smile down at her and lean forward, pressing his lips to her forehead. "Same here, baby, but you're gonna be fine, just hold on."

But Calleigh couldn't hold on. She couldn't fight the darkness invading the edges of the vision. The shadows closed in, taking over her sight and making her close her eyes. And as she fell into the darkness, Calleigh could hear Eric shouting her name but it was too late for her to fight to open her eyes again. She was too tired...

**Thank you for reading. Please leave me a review, I even accept bad ones :p**


End file.
